Five Secret Passageways
by EllieF
Summary: When he was 12, Mello decided he'd find all the secret passages in the House. [Mello x Matt, a wee dash of onesided Mello x L, and Near's in it too.]


I.  
Everyone knew there were five secret passages in the House, and Mello hadn't been there too long when he decided he would find them all.

L showed him the first after a little persuasion. It started in a closet in the classroom that used to be half of the library. In the dim and stuffy corridor Mello took L's hand, only partly not to lose him. He didn't seem to mind, and Mello tried to hide his smile even though it was dark anyway.

They emerged into the startling brightness of the solarium, on the other side of the House from where they'd started. Some of the marble tiles were cracked, and dust motes spangled in the air, catching the setting sun.

L went straight to one of the many-paned windows and stared westward, bony fingers splayed on the dirty glass. Mello couldn't see his face, but he saw that there were footprints in the dust that they hadn't just put there, and felt like it was suddenly kind of hard to swallow, and he didn't ask.

It was annoying to pretend he hadn't found all the hidden passages, but Mello never shared that one with anyone else.

II.  
The second one he found was a dead end, but it was almost his favorite, because he found it with Matt. When he discovered they couldn't go any farther and turned back, Matt just smiled like this was still the greatest adventure he'd ever dreamed of, and Mello thought _Why the hell not?_ And that was when he kissed him for the first time.

III.  
He almost let the third one go unfound. He'd just put the master key he'd "borrowed" into the lock of an unused room on the fourth floor when a soft voice spoke behind him. "You aren't supposed to have that."

He turned to Near and glared. "_You_ shouldn't be following me."

"I was curious," he said simply, and Mello wondered if he were actually trying—not too well, of course—to be less annoying than usual.

"I'm looking for something. Satisfied? Run along and play. Somewhere _else_."

But Near stood his ground, and Mello decided he was trying to be annoying after all. "It's not in there."

"What?"

"The way to the other wing," Near said, twirling at his hair in that way Mello found so irritating. "The construction deviates from the blueprints, but—"

"OK, OK. So where is it?"

"It's two rooms down."

After that he kind of felt honor-bound to let Near tag along. He had earned it by helping in the quest, and Mello enjoyed feeling generous.

It actually wasn't that bad, working together to figure out which panel was really a door, finding the passageway with the Oriental rugs no one had seen in years and long-dead gaslights still along the walls, pushing open the portrait of some unknown old fart to find themselves on the east staircase.

Of course, the next day, Mello had to pull all the heads off Near's robots, but that was just because he'd left them _right there_ in the common room.

IV.  
He found the fourth by himself, but got Matt before exploring it. In the ballroom, which was used for PE these days, there was a small keyhole in the wall behind the stacks of equipment. Mello picked the lock and found a steep, unlighted staircase. He wasn't scared, but he hadn't forgotten that secret first kiss, and he thought Matt might like it if he waited for him. Matt pretended not to, but he cared about things like that.

So they went down the stairs in the glow of Matt's lighter, and Mello reached back for his hand. He had every right to, so it didn't carry quite the same thrill of daring as when he'd been twelve and had a paralyzing crush on L, but then again, this wasn't hopeless.

The stairs bottomed out onto a roughly concreted hallway, dank and creepily low-lit. Mello looked back and Matt shrugged.

"Where does it go?" Matt said.

"Is it really important?"

"Nah, not really."

Mello tugged on his hand to pull him closer. Kissing Matt was familiar, but it was never boring. He was smoke and heat and the safe harbor Mello didn't like to admit he needed sometimes. He was like human Prozac. Only sexy. Mello smiled into the kiss and Matt hugged him tight, and that was the day they became lovers.

V.  
He never found out where the fifth passage went. He found it completely by accident as he hurried toward his room that horrible day in 2004, mostly blinded by tears and almost too wracked with rage to walk at all.

Motion was imperative, mourning a luxury he couldn't afford. He kicked at part of the wall and almost fell when it swung inward. Stared for a long moment into what looked like a dark blur, shaking. "Aw, fuck it," he said, and banged it shut and went on. What else could he do?


End file.
